UN-Sponsored Meeting Opens in Kenya in The Absence of Somali Government

By Shafi'i Mohyaddin Abokar

In the absence of Somalia's transitional federal government, the UNPOS-sponsored consultative meeting on Somalia kicked off in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Tuesday morning.

A diplomat at the Somali embassy in Kenya Abdi Satar Hassan Ali who talked to reporters on Tuesday said that the meeting was opened in Nairobi at about 10:00AM local time in the absence of the Somali government although the speaker Sharif Hassan Sheik Aden was there.

"Only the Somali parliamentary speaker and delegates from Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama'a, Puntland and the Galmudug state are present at the meeting along with diplomats from Italy, Egypt and other western countries" Hassan told the media accusing the UN special envoy for Somalia of acting against the will of Somali people.

He said that AU and IGAD are not taking part in the consultative meeting which he termed as a "conspiracy" against Somalia. "IGAD and AU are the only two organizations which fully support the Somali government and that is why they are not participating in the anti-Somalia meeting" the Somali diplomat told the media.

The UN special representative for Somalia Augustine Mahiga who addressed at the opening of the meeting urged the moderate Ahlu sunna Wal Jama'a to end their differences saying that he will work to help them form a single Ahlu Sunna administration.

"We know that Ahlu Sunna has many different regional leaders and we want to help them have a single broad-based administration" the UN representative told the meeting.

Somali government, civil society groups, independent political parts and Somali clan elders had previously denounced the meeting which is due to conclude on Wednesday.

Meanwhile thousands of Somalis have taken to the streets in Mogadishu in protest against the UN-sponsored consultative meeting accusing the UN envoy for Somalia of lobbying for the destruction of the current world-backed government in Somalia.

Shafi'i Mohyaddin Abokar is the NewsBlaze Somalia reporter. Contact him through NewsBlaze.